1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a technique for providing print data through a network such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a printer is used as an output device of a personal computer, it is typical for the printer to execute printing according to print data provided from the personal computer. At this time, the personal computer generates CMYK color system print data from RGB color system or YCbCr color system multiple tone image data.
In recent years, a service that provides print data through the Internet is utilizable. With this service, print data of a format that can be directly provided to a personal computer printer is provided from a server to a client, and the client, by transferring the provided print data as-is to the printer, can print an image. In service of this kind, the reason that print data of a format directly transferable to a printer is provided from server to client is in order to prevent the occurrence of a problem of copyright infringement. That is, assume that data provided through a network is RGB multiple tone image data; in this case if image data is stored on the client side, there is a possibility of a problem of copyright infringement occurring due to reproduction thereof On the other hand, as stated, in the case of providing print data of a format directly transferable to a printer, there is no such concern.
However, actual print characteristics differ subtly from one another by individual printers. Because of this, even if printing is executed using the same print data, in reproduced printed matter slight differences will occur in each individual printer. Therefore, depending on printer print characteristics, even if print data supplied from a server is used, there is a possibility that printed matter of sufficient picture quality is not obtained.